


Remus and Sirius Find Each other Slowly

by Primtal (Primzahlen)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Sirius Black, Demiromantic Remus Lupin, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Fifth Year, M/M, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Muggle Studies, Owls, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, animagi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 03:03:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4505229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Primzahlen/pseuds/Primtal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Feelings have begun to stir in the midst of the Marauders' group. Without explanation, Remus and Sirius start to be drawn to each other. Oddly, Incomprehensibly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remus and Sirius Find Each other Slowly

It is of slight linguistic irony that a Prefect rarely has a Perfect day. This one certainly hadn’t been for Remus.

 Some eastern idiot had just created the Rebellious Rubix Cube, which every first to third year now seemed to be equipped with. Initially only sneering at false moves or levitating slightly out of reach when near completion, the Rubix Cubes had started forming clans and flying around Hogwarts in formation, blocking corridors, bullying teachers and fitting together to spell out rude words on classroom windows. It had taken all of Remus’s and his fellow Prefects’ Saturday to get rid of them. That,  added to the mild argument he’d had with James at lunch time about the effectiveness of hexing passersby to impress a certain red-head (he hadn’t had a chance to broach ethics) meant he’d never been so glad to see the Fat Lady.

“Mackled Malaclaw,” Remus said tiredly, and climbed in.

The common room was boisterously full. The Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match was tomorrow, Remus remembered. The Quidditch fever had started to spread, and as he crossed the room he overheard at least four groups of people rowdily discussing their Chances, the debatable Value of the New Chasers and of course Potter’s Gorgeous Seeking Skills. The Quidditch players themselves were being treated to shots of what a few fourth years were still determinately passing off as firewhiskey, although it was common knowledge that Filch himself hadn’t been able to find anything confiscate-able in it. Butterbeer, chilli essence and a bit of toothpaste, the hunched squib had grumbled.

James, however, wasn’t among them, so Remus made his way through the excitable crowd into the fifth year dormitory.

Expecting it to be empty, he was surprised to find Sirius somberly lying on his bed in the midst of four to five large open textbooks, forehead scrunched in concentration and wand tucked behind his ear. Although frighteningly bright, Sirius had been better known to transfigure his textbooks into near-extinct marsupials than look at them for any notable period of time.

“Why so Sirius?” Remus joked, plopping his backpack onto his perfectly made bed. He shook off the ‘#ditchqquidditch’ pins which Sirius had made to tease James (although he’d claimed it was to bring forth the new era of magical brisketball) and had strewn liberally around the dormitory.

“Very funny. “ Sirius looked up “Do Muggle Studies with me, James said. It’ll be a laugh, James said. Now I’m risking an embarrassing OWL because James couldn’t resist signing up for four more hours a week of dear Evans.”

Remus looked over at Sirius’s essay.  _The uses and abuses of the windshield wiper_ , he read the vehemently penned title.

“Evans, isn’t she a Muggle-born?” he questioned.

“Well that’s exactly what makes the matter so exasperating!” Sirius sounded like he’d been aching to finally vent his feelings, and Remus privately thought a comment about the weather would have resulted in the same outburst. “She read a couple of Muggle Studies books beforehand, disagreed and now treats classes as a grand Evans vs Professor Gove Muggle studies education debating platform. And while I usually value class planning derailment, now it means I have to cut into my own time for rote memorization and to personally clarify that cannons aren’t an abbreviation of the Chudley Cannons, that bus stops aren’t a type of punctuation I’ve managed to avoid in 15 years of misdemeanors and that rubber ducks have no fucking use at all!” Sirius said this in an increasingly loud voice, and all very quickly.

“Mint?” Remus offered him one, smirking.

Sirius, still agitated, took one.  Seeing him so animated over the possibility of not obtaining an Outstanding Owl was a new sight for Remus.

“Well, why do you care so much, anyways? It’s only Muggle Studies.” Remus said lightly, hoping to calm him down a little. Sirius just shrugged noncommittally and continued to shuffle through his notes, so he tried for a new tactic.

“Where’s James, anyways?” Remus enquired.

“Statistically speaking, either actually executing this morning’s plan of injecting doxy droppings into Filch’s afternoon pasties (I had to bail, sadly) or fiercely daydreaming about Evan’s luscious copper locks.” Sirius angrily turned another page “And her full sexy lips, sounding away evidence for ‘disgusting bigotry towards Muggles’ and ‘atrocious Muggle representation in this course’.”

A pause, while Remus considered whether it was best to let Sirius blow off some steam alone.

“How was Prefecting?” Sirius’s voice was different now, more affectionate. Remus smiled to himself, it was … so nice, somehow. He would stay, then, and moved to unzip his backpack.

“Not-“ Remus started, when a fist sized object suddenly zoomed out of his open backpack into his unsuspecting, and very alarmed eye. 

The pain froze him for a second or so, as the now smudgy-looking object proceeded to zig zag fiercely across the room, denting or destroying any item that came across it in a full Bludger style. But with more angles.

Now it was headed, destructively, towards his entire (though arguably shared with James), carefully compiled collection of chocolate frog cards.

 “Evanesco” Sirius stood up on his bed, roaring.  The offending object promptly disappeared, and the boys stood in shock within their now more-than-battered dormitory.

 “Prefecthood? Lately, not worth the baths”. A moment of stunned silence, and then Sirius and Remus both started howling with laughter.  Sirius fell from his rictus wand-at-the-ready position and came crashing down, tears in his eyes.

“What even was that?” the crinkly twinkle had returned in Sirius’s eyes. He was as vibrant in approval as a red sparkling wine was. The surplus of… life in him was astonishing, Remus thought.

“A rampaging Rebellious Rubix cube I think” Remus was still recovering from his giggling fit “The rascal must have lodged itself into my backpack.”

“ _You’re_ a rebellious Rubix cube” Sirius leaned forwards to ruffle Remus’s hair fondly. He picked out a small beetle from it, probably a leftover of the Potion Practice Remus  had started early this morning before he’d been called to participate in the Prefects’ collective little adventure.

 “I demonstrably am neither of those of things” Remus turned away a little to hide his embarrassingly obvious blush. He fervently hoped there was a correlation of sorts between laughter and cheek redness. As an explanation.

“Then more of a … fanged frisbee” Sirius grinned "I hear they're going to start making those soon."

“Well now we have _another_ way to describe my ‘furry little problem’.” Remus chuckled “Let it be clear that I approve of neither.”

“It will be good though… soon. James and I practiced again with Peter this morning, and he’s almost got there. Can’t take more than a week now, and for James and I the transformation is now thoughtless.” Sirius assured him “Everything’s falling into place.”

“Would hurt your reputation though,” Remus suddenly frowned.

“Oh come on Moony, who cares about the Ministry’s stuffy bureaucracy .” Sirius looked exasperated, and waved his hands around madly “Most Animagi go unregistered nowadays. I , for one, am pretty sure that kneazel on the grounds every other night is Dumbledore having a stroll.”

“No I mean if the girls knew” Remus deadpanned “That slick badboy Sirius is at his core a Massive. Fluffy. Puppy.” He then ducked, laughing, as Sirius tried to hit him with _An Introduction To Muggle_ _Headwear_.

“I am a grim, majestic canine” Sirius swiped again with the textbook. He’d managed to first transform two weeks ago, revealing his Animagus’s form.

“A endearingly confused-with-his-own size pup.” Remus counteracted.

“Hey, I could transform and lick you to death right now.”

They abused each other’s animal forms for a while (only a total of three mild bruises resulted from this interaction), until Remus suggested they head out to dinner, which they were in danger of missing.

“Yeah I suppose” Sirius said reluctantly, staring at his half-completed Muggle Studies essay, which was now starting to describe the dangers of misinterpreting the windshield wiper as engorged, splintered wands.

His eyes finally met Remus’s face, which again had adopted a faintly quizzical expression.

“It’s just” Sirius continued, uncertainly “Well, I know it’s silly to think that how well I do at Muggle Studies in any way reflects me and my values. But, well, apart from James’s violent attraction to fox-coloured hair ... I did choose it to prove I’m different. From my parents. “

Of course it was about his origins, Remus cursed himself for not having seen before.

“I mean, no Slytherin has taken up Muggle Studies for decades and decades,” Sirius started again. “And I’d like it to be more than just another way to provoke my progenitors, more than just the Muggle girlband posters I’ve stuck up in my room. But as a sign that I care? That I take being open-minded and respectful and tolerant and liberal seriously.” It was Sirius’s turn to blush, he rarely said anything that wasn’t meant as pure rollicking fun. He picked up his essay, avoiding Remus's gaze, “That’s why this ridiculous bullshit matters.”

Exactly on cue, James and Peter barged into the dormitory.

James was wearing his favorite ‘Seek and Ye Shall Find’ t-shirt in lieu of his robes, which they weren’t technically allowed to do outside of their common rooms. Peter looked rather more anxious than usual.

“I swear I’ve read it somewhere. I mean if it came to it would you really rather choose the zero pain strategy to never being able to properly transform?” James was telling Peter loudly as he stepped through the door.

“James, shut up!” Remus reprimanded him. “We agreed to never discuss when entirely alone, not even vague references!”

James sprawled himself over his bed, throwing his backpack to the ground “Ah sorry Mooney! I was just telling Peter that sometimes the pain caused by the removal of a small body part actually catalyzes the Animagus transformation process.” He proceeded to change out of his day wear, clearly not planning on joining them for dinner, as Peter continued looking alarmed. “I mean, it’d only have to be something small… like a finger” He sat up, confused “And is it just me or is this dormitory even shabbier-looking than usual? I don’t even remember it being this bad when Bertram Aubrey sneaked a Niffler in.”

“James I-“ Peter began tentatively.

“No one’s losing a finger” Remus said firmly, although he smiled.

“James James!” Sirius, who’d been laughing through that entire interaction, now called for his best friend’s attention “Have another addition to the chart?” he moved excitedly  towards the newly installed tally chart to one side of the room, titled ‘Ways in Which James is Snubbed by Evans’.

“Sadly yes” James groaned, smothering his face into a pillow. “The unfortunate category of ‘Is Compared to an Unsavory Magical Creature’” he said as Sirius, delighted, moved past the first top two categories of Is Simply Ignored and Is Asked to Return to his Family’s Pretentious Dwellings.

“Ah excellent, this one’s definitely gaining popularity” Sirius murmured, adding a tally mark. James had initially protested against the use of the chart, but in the end had just insisted they just add another category for the Successes. It had never been used.

“We’re going to dinner” Remus stated, and then added kindly “Coming Peter?”

Looking more than pleased to be able to escape from the boy who was (however amicably) proposing his mutilation, Peter followed them out.

As they climbed out  of the portrait hall again, Remus thought he felt Sirius’s hand brushing against his back, as if aborting an impulsive motion to help him through. Remus couldn’t resist accidentally touching Sirius’s hand.

He didn’t understand what any of this meant yet.

Just an odd, incomprehensible snapshot in time, he explained it to himself. 

Sirius smiled at him. Warmly.

Odd, incomprehensible.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to play about with a Rowlingesque style - this is my first Marauders (and Harry Potter at all) piece! I enjoyed dipping back into this world.


End file.
